Take That Back

My friend, Xuan, sent me this video regarding electronics. We humans can definitely be a wasteful species–at least here in the United States.

If we are not recycling electronics correctly, perhaps we should look at consuming less or at the very least, replacing our electronics less frequently. Of course, the electronics industry would probably not like that. It also doesn’t help when we are inundated with so many ads touting the newest features that are rolled out in many increments over a short period of time.

Is technology a bad thing? My friend, Oliver, wrote that it can lead to classicism and exploitation. I admit it. I love my iPod touch and my iMac, so I am just as guilty as contributing to this e-waste as the next person.

Finally, I want to address the section in the video where the narrator mentions that the men who develop the technology for these electronics having no knowledge about the waste being created because it’s being hidden from them by the companies that employ them. It reminds me off Veblen’s dichotomy between the machine process and the business principles from The Theory of Business Enterprise.